The table on the right shows the simple present tense forms of گرفتن ‹gereftan› (“to get”), consisting of the present/imperfect[2] prefix می ‹mi› , the present stem گیر ‹gir› and suffixes to indicate the person and number.

To make a simple present tense form of a Persian verb, begin with the prefix می ‹mi› . Then add the present tense stem (which can be looked up in most dictionaries), e.g. گیر ‹gir› . Finally, add the appropriate present tense personal suffix from the table below to make the simple present tense verb form:

As you can see, the present tense personal suffixes are the same as the past tense ones, except for the third person singular, which is د ‹ad› in the present tense and nothing in the past.

Every Persian verb has two stems: the imperative/present stem and the past stem. In general, both stems of each verb must be learned because neither is not completely predictable from the other. There are some common patterns, though. For example, verbs whose infinitives end with تن ‹tan› , دن ‹dan› , or یدن ‹idan› often form the present stem by dropping those endings:

Verb

Present stem

کشتن ‹koštan› (“to kill”)

کش ‹koš›

آوردن ‹âvardan› (“to bring”)

آور ‹âvar›

رسیدن ‹residan› (“to arrive”)

رس ‹res›

“I work tomorrow.”

فردا کر می‌کنم.

فردا

کار

می‌کنم

←

‹fardâ›

‹kar›

‹mikonam›

←

“tomorrow”

“work”

“I do”

The simple present tense is also used to talk about a future event, as shown on the right.

The simple present tense can also be used to express that an event is occurring at the very moment that the speaker is speaking, but the present continuous tense is used more often for that purpose in both English and Persian. The present continuous tense will be discussed in a later chapter.

↑ abcdNote: The Persian script here uses formal spelling, but the transcriptions in angle brackets shows typical colloquial pronunciation. In colloquial speech, for example, the ending ‍ید ‹-id› is often pronounced as ‹-in›. Other differences between spoken and written Persian will be given in the lessons that follow.

↑Persian used to have a truly simple present tense with no prefix, distinct from the present imperfect tense with the prefix می ‹mi› . In modern Persian, though, the present imperfect tense has replaced the simple present tense for all verbs but داشتن ‹dâštan› (“to have”) and بودن ‹budan› (“to be”).